Musical toy



P. A. DERHAM v MUSICAL TOY Feb. 26, 1952 Filed July 15, 1948 v INVENTOR.fifl/L/ /9. 52,944

HTTOEA/fiT-.

Patented Feb. 26, 1952 MUSICAL TOY Philip A. Derham, Rosemont, Pa,assignor to Louis Marx & Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New Yerk Application July 13, 1948, Serial No. 3&441

2 Claims.

This invention relates to toys, and more particularly to a voiceoperated musical toy.

It has already been proposed to make a musical toy consisting ofoppositely dished shell-like halves held together in edge-to-edgerelation and having a mouth opening at one edge for admitting singing orhumming sounds between the halves, said halves being vibratile and beingheld or modulated with any desired varying pressure by the hands. Oneobject of the present inventionis to generally improve toys of thespecified character.

A more particular object is to facilitate holding the vibratile ordiaphragm portions of the toy between the hands at any angle which iscomfortable to the user. In fact, the angle may be changed from time totime as the toy is used.

Another object of the invention is to improve the method of securing thevibratile halves together. Most of the area is the diaphragm area, theedges of which are uncemented in order not to interfere with the desiredvibrations. The remaining area is preferably thickened and is lessvibratile. In accordance with the present invention, this thickened areais provided with mating pins and sockets, preferably located well insidethe edges. The pins and sockets are cemented or otherwise securedtogether, and in consequence the edges of the toy, even at the thickenedarea, may remain uncemented. This is convenient and economical whenassembling the toy, for the appropriate cement or solvent need beapplied to only the pins or/and sockets, and need not be applied to theedges. In this way the operating characteristics of the toy may bereproduceably controlled. On the contray, when cement is applied to theedges it tends to spread, and it is difiicult to accurately control theprecise length over which the edges are secured togethered. That in turnaffects the freedom of vibration of the diaphragm portions.

To accomplish the foregoing general objects, and other more specificobjects which will hereinafter appear, my invention resides in themusical toy elements and their relation one to another as arehereinafter more particularly described in the following specification.The specification is accompanied by drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a voice operated musical toy embodying features of myinvention;

Fig. 2 is an'end elevation of the same looking toward the mouthpiece;

Fig. 3 shows the mating halves of the toy separated;

Fig. 4 is a section taken approximately in the Q plane of the line 4-4of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately in the plane of the line 5' 5 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing a slight modification.

Referring to the drawing, the musical toy comprises oppositely dishedshell-like halves l2 and I4 held together in edge-to-edge relation. Saidhalves each comprise a relatively thin vibratile diaphragm portion [6and a neck portion I8. The neck portions when combined are circular insection, as is best shown in Fig. 2. This facilitates holding thediaphragm portions between the palms of the hands at any angle which iscomfortable to the user. In fact the angle may be changed from time totime in the course of a single song, either for comfort, or forappearance or showmanship," or to better modulate the music.

The halves of the toy preferably also include a relatively thickenedshoulder portion 2!]. When, as is here the case, the halves aregenerally circular in outline, the shoulder portions 20 occupy a segmentof the generally circular area, most of the area being occupied by thediaphragm portion Hi.

The halves of the toy are held in registration and are secured togetherby means of pins and mating sockets formed in the thickened or shoulderarea 20, and preferably well inside the edges thereof. This is bestshown in Fig. 3, in which it will be seen that the half l2 has moldedintegrally therewith a pin 22 and a socket 24, and that the half 'I 4has molded integrally therewith a-socket 26 and a pin 28. In securingthe halves of the toy together, it is merely necessary to apply asuitable cement or solvent to the pins 'or/an'd sockets, and to themjoin the halves of the toy, as shown in Fig. 5. It is not necessary toapply cement or solvent to the edges of the t y, and that factconstitutes one important advantage of the present invention.

It will be understood by those familiar with the art that the edges ofthe diaphragm portions are nicely matched or fitted together inedge-toedge relation, but that they are not coalesced or joined bycement or solvent. This is imperative in order to insure free vibrationof the vibratile or diaphragm portions of the toy. However, the edges ofthe thickened shoulder portion or segmental portion 20 have beencemented together in order to hold the toy together. It is difficult tocontrol the flow of the cement or solvent, which tends to spread bycapillary attraction along the edges of the diaphragm portion. In-

asmuch as the freedom of vibration of the diaphragm portion varies whenthe length of coalesced edge varies, the operation of the toy isrelatively unpredictable when the toys are manufactured under rapidproduction conditions.

In accordance with the present invention, no cement or solvent isapplied to the edges of the toy at all. This is true of the neck portionand shoulder portion, as well as the diaphragm portion. The halves areheld together solely by the pin and socket connections. Inasmuch asthese are located inside the edges of the toy, the cement or solvent maybe applied thereto without any of the same reaching the edges.

The dimensions in the case of one particular example of my inventionwere as follows, but it should be understood that these dimensions aresubmitted solely by way of illustration, and not in limitation of theinvention:

The halves of the toy were molded out of a suitable thermoplasticmaterial, for example, polystyrene. The generally circular toy wasapproximately 2l/ in diameter. The thickness of the shoulder portion was0.050, and the'same applies to the neck portion, except at the edgewhich, of course, is much thicker in order to present a nicely roundedsurface to the lips and mouth. The diaphragm portion was approximately0.025" thick although this thickness was increased toward the center ofthe diaphragm, and there reached a thickness of 0.040". The pins 20 hada diameter of and the sockets a diameter of The holes in the socketswere, of course, dimensioned to receive the pins. The circularmouthpiece had an outside diameter of about the inside diameter beingappreciably smaller. lhe radius of curvature on which the halves weredished was of the order of 2 this difiering somewhat for the outsidesurface and the inside surface, and for different parts of saidsurfaces, with a view to producing the desired taper in thicknesspreviously referred to.

Fig. 6 illustrates a slight modification of the invention which issimilar to that so far described, but which, in addition to the twomainpins 30 and sockets 32, is provided with another smaller pin 34 andsocket 36 at the lip of the mouthpiece. In this case the pin 34 ismerely a slight protuberance or teat projecting from the parting face,while the socket 36 is merely a mating hole or indentation. Such anadditional pin and socket may, if desired, be provided to help hold thehalves of the toy in registration when securing the same together, butis not necessary unless it is preferred to increase the tolerance in thefit of the main pins and sockets. It should be understood that thecement or solvent need be and preferably is applied to only the mainpins and sockets, and is not applied to the auxiliary pin and socket 34,36.

It is believed that the construction and operation of my improvedmusical toy, as well as the advantages thereof, will be apparent fromthe foregoing detailed description. It will also be apparent that whileI have shown and described the invention in a preferred form, changesmay be made in the structure disclosed, without departing from thespirit of the invention, as sought to be defined in the followingclaims. In the claims the term cemented is used for convenience, but isintended to include sticking together in any manner, as by means of asolvent.

I claim:

1. A voice operated musical toy comprising approximately circular,oppositely dished, shelllike halves held together in edge-to-edgerelation, said halves being made out of one of the known moldingplastics, and each comprising a relatively thin vibratile diaphragmportion occupying most of the generally circular area, said diaphragmportions being free at the edges for vibration, said vibration beingcontrolled by manual pressure directly thereon, a relatively thickshoulder portion adjacent said diaphragm portion and occupying aremaining segment of the generally circular area, and a relatively thickgenerally semi-cylindrical neck portion outside of and contiguous saidshoulder portion, said neck portions when combined being circular insection and thereby facilitating holding the diaphragm portions directlybetween the hands at any angle which is comfortable to the user, saidhalves being held in registration and being secured together by pins andmating blind sockets formed in the aforesaid thickened segment andlocated closely adjacent but within the edges thereof, said pins andsockets being cemented together, and the edges of said halves beingunsecured except at and by said 'pins and sockets.

2. A voice operated-musical toy comprising approximately circular,oppositely dished, shell-like halves held together in edge-to-edgerelation, said halves being made out of one of the known moldingplastics, and each comprising a relatively thin vibratile diaphragmportion occupying most of the generally circular area, said diaphragmportions being free at the edges for vibration, said vibration beingcontrolled by manual pressure directly thereon, a relatively thickshoulder portion adjacent said diaphragm portion and occupying aremaining segment of the generally circular area, and a relatively thickneck portion outside of and contiguous said shoulder portion, said neckportions when combined forming a protruding mouthpiece, said halvesbeing held in registration and being se- H cured together by pins andmating blind sockets projecting inwardly from and formed integrally withthe aforesaid thickened segments and located closely adjacent but withinthe edges there of, said pins and sockets bein cemented together, andthe edges of said halves being unsecured except at and by said pins andsockets.

PHILIP A. DERHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 194,119 Arpisella Aug. 14, 1877847,240 Chamberlain Mar. 12, 1907 1,207,504 Converse Dec. 5, 19161,219,241 Buchler Mar. 13, 1917 1,259,600 Carlisle Mar. 19, 19181,735,697 Rutkowski Nov. 12, 1929 1,809,508 Colby June 9, 1931 2,211,102Davis Aug. 13, 1940 2,452,658 Home Nov. 2, 1948 2,529,693 Home Nov. 14,1950

